Because they were united, House Republicans were a force during this year’s legislative session, and they accomplished a lot.
By contrast, the Republican Party of New Mexico failed to capitalize on any of Gov. Bill Richardson’s arguably ethically challenged decisions and handed him a landslide victory last year as he was preparing to run for president. They failed to pick up any statewide offices. Though they were three seats away from having a larger influence in the state House, and they failed to gain any ground.
This weekend’s fight over who would be state party chair reveals the reason.
C. Earl Greer said he waited until three days before the election to announce his challenge of Allen Weh’s leadership because he didn’t want to give the situation time to deteriorate into nastiness. It did anyway.
On Thursday, Fernando C de Baca, chair of the Bernalillo County Republican Party, sent a letter to the state party informing it that a number of longtime members were no longer in good standing because they hadn’t paid dues. Noteworthy was the fact that C de Baca was running with Greer for vice chair, and that those who were listed were largely Weh supporters.
Included on the list was blogger Mario Burgos, who, in response, put up a posting accusing C de Baca of breaking party rules and creating the list in an attempt to defeat Weh. He revealed that C de Baca pleaded guilty in
Sound familiar? Remind you of Manny Aragon? It should. C de Baca told the Albuquerque Journal the conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor and later removed from his record.
I received several e-mails from Republicans involved in this back-and-forth fight throughout the weekend. There were a lot of hurt feelings.
Fight reveals division
Weh’s 182-137 victory was strong, but also revealed the division in the party. I’ve spent a couple of days speaking to a number of people on both sides, and many don’t seem to realize how this fighting, which has been on and off for several years, is hurting the GOP.
Many Republicans will point to U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson’s narrow victory last year as evidence that the Weh-led state party did a good job. It was a victory, certainly, but it was one of only two bright spots for Republicans in the November election, the other being the re-election of Land Commissioner Pat Lyons.
Strong organizations don’t just hold their ground. In a year that Democrats were plagued by so much scandal on a state level, an organized and unified Republican Party could have gained ground.
House Republicans, in their unity, won a precedent-setting change in the way capital outlay is distributed that makes it fair. They were a force that had a hand in determining the fate of a number of important pieces of legislation, including
They did it despite the fact that some members are quite moderate, while others are very far to the right.
The state GOP, on the other hand, was an organization that Democrats, in the last election, largely ignored. John Dendahl, Jim Bibb and Demesia Padilla should have done better in their statewide races. Republicans should have been able to hold on to Terry Marquardt’s House seat and should have come closer to defeating Rep. Andy Nuñez.
But they didn’t have the focus, drive and momentum to do it. They poured most of their resources into the victories by Lyons and Wilson.
2008, 2010 are critical years
With a lingering
New Mexico Democrats gave their party chair a mandate this weekend. They’re quickly getting ready for 2008 and 2010. They’re united in a belief that they will defeat
What are Republicans doing? They’ve seen the defection of the once-golden boy David Iglesias. They’re slinging mud at each other over who should be party chair. They’re rallying around the scandal-plagued Wilson and Domenici, much as they rallied around Wilson and Lyons last year.
Next year’s election is rapidly approaching, but even more important for Republicans is 2010, because redistricting is coming two years after that. The last time around, Texas Republicans redistricted Democrats out of a number of seats, and they should expect that Democrats in many states will try to do the same in five years.
Winning the governor’s race in 2010 will be the only real way for Republicans to avoid such a redistricting.
Before they can do that, they need to get their house in order. Greer’s last-minute candidacy had a lot of support because of concern about the state party’s unwillingness to work with county parties. It revealed that the state party needs to reach out and do a better job of including local parties in the process if it hopes to make a dent in the seven-decade reign of Democrats in
With House Republicans as an example, the party certainly can unite. Will it?